Posts Tagged ‘sydney’

Seve and team on Gotta Love It 7 may have clinched their record-setting 8th JJ championship, but the fight for the podium is still on during this final day of broadcasting for the 2015 18 footer Worlds. Will Howie Hamlin get the first US podium in more than a decade after winning race 6 on Saturday? Clicky play and tune in live above. Nic Douglass did some killer interviews with Howie and most of the boat park yesterday – click here for that noise.

While the world’s sailing media is reporting an Antipodean battle between Sydney and Auckland for the right to host the “America’s Cup Qualifiers”, it emerged this morning that Sydney has most likely lost it to the Kiwis, meaning ETNZ should have the funding soon to get their challenge really rolling. Did the Harbour ever have a real shot, or do they join Rome, Newport, and San Diego as yet another pawn in Coutts’ repeat-as-needed negotiating program?

Premier Mike Baird’s events team has been slammed for “wasting everyone’s time” after it let the opportunity to stage prestigious America’s Cup races on Sydney Harbour slip away to Auckland.

The America’s Cup organisers are set to award the qualifier races to New Zealand after Sydney’s events tsar, Destination NSW chief executive Sandra Chipchase, told them she needed another eight weeks to make a decision on whether to lodge a formal bid.

It is believed Auckland secured the event — which organisers estimated could have attracted 40,000 international visitors and 15,000 domestic tourists to Sydney — for less than $10 million.

“For this opportunity not to be treated seriously is just a massive waste of everyone’ time and a missed chance,’’ said veteran promoter Tony Cochrane, who was trying to generate interest from Sydney. “This is not how world-class event organisations operate when it comes to securing what is clearly a world-class event.” Opposition Leader Luke Foley said he feared the government had been “asleep at the wheel”. “We have to show we are hungry for these lucrative money spinners otherwise you miss the boat,’’ Mr Foley said.

Nic Douglass spins up the final radio show of her twenties, guiding you through the big names of sailing last week. Happy Birthday to one of sailing’s most enthusiastic cheerleaders, and be sure to check out the show if you dig match racing, one-design racing, extreme 40s, and the pointy end of the JJ Giltinan fleet. Here’s the guide:

Every February means the 18 Footer Worlds, and for the second year in a row, it’s all being streamed live on Youtube. Head over to Nic Douglass’ Youtube page for some great interviews with the teams earlier in the day and her Facebook Page for content throughout the week, and click the player above to see if Seve Jarvin and the Gotta Love It 7 boys can break the all-time record and take their 8th JJ Giltinan title.

You’ll have an hour or two of great live HD racing action every night for the next week, all anchored by fun commentary from our ultra-knowledgeable friends Killo and Heeley. Full entry list here.

UPDATE: Yahoo!7 has finally sorted out its shit and the full replay of the start of the Hobart Race is up in all its glory. And now that you can click past the commercials, it’s a pretty awesome spectacle, and other than the SD quality, the production is just fine.

It’s almost like Yahoo!7 is a decade behind in digital thinking, assuming that the world should be grateful for a stuttery, low-res feed that doesn’t even start on time, and we really can’t understand how the normally brand-aware Rolex allows such a crappy broadcast partner to mess their pristine image up for the world to see. At least Andrea Francolini is still making beautiful shots like the one above, and Nic Douglass’s two-hour start commentary is massively entertaining – it’s not everyday your commentary comes between bouts of feeding the fishes.

In the race itself, Wild Oats is beginning to shine in the lighter breeze down the course, and now’s the time for the skinny maxi to build as big a lead as she can before the big monster comes blast reaching again later tonight. Track ‘em here.

Check out these portraits of the men at the top of the 5 Supermaxis on this year’s Sydney-Hobart line. Andrea Francolini’s shots continue to up the bar in creative photocoverage of this race; check his page here.

We promised to show you what newbie sailor chick Sally Fitzgibbons had to say to our Senior Editor yesterday, and here’s your delivery. Big thanks to Land Rover Sailing, the Extreme Sailing Series, and the M32 Series for helping us put this short shoot together. And a huge shout out to Petey Crawford for working overtime to convert some shitty iPhone video into something pretty – Sally’s looks certainly helped that, and she’ll be our Sailor Chick of the Week at least until the Hobart!

Our favorite blonde bombshell hits the airwaves with another edition of Adventures of a Sailor Girl; for this weekend’s edition, Nic Douglass mixes rock and funk songs with some of Australia’s biggest sailing talents.

At 7:05 – She’s got one of the winningest one-design pros in history on the line and a longtime friend to SA; Darren ‘Twirler’ Jones, a show regular called in from the farm, ahead of going to the Farr 40 Worlds.

At 18:52 – She spoke with Josh Chant, the founder of 33 South Racing, about the scholarship program and where the program is headed (including an Extreme 40).

At 39:18 – Nic got ‘the big get’ with ‘the Big Fella’ – Australian AC Team CEO Iain Murray who took some time out of his busy schedule to chat about the sails, foiling cats, andthe America’s Cup.

At 53:05 – Nic gets into the CYCA winter series with her own report from sailing on the Harbour.

Our gal pal Nic Douglass continues to burn up the internet airwaves with her Adventures of a Sailor Girl radio show, and this week, she says her show was ‘massive!’ We don’t know about that, but we do know that we love this petite blonde dinghy sailor’s attitude and pluck, and encourage you to give her show a listen. It’s an hour’s worth of mostly music peppered by interviews and monologue about racing sailboats. Nic tells us about her show:

At 5:36, we caught up with the awesome Howie Hamlin after his 5o5 North Americans win, and all that is ahead for him this year. So many adventures to draw from that no doubt make him the fantastic sailor that he is today, and always great to talk to!

At 18:00, I managed to catch Red Bull Youth AC skipper Jason Waterhouse straight from the Alps at the GC32 Austria Cup – too awesome! With his team, skippered by Sebastian Cole, they had two bullets just before I spoke to him. Great to hear that all is going well for this dedicated cat sailor.

At 36:13, last but definitely not least, Stacey Jackson, a great friend, called in from the Canary Islands to touch base about all that is happening for Team SCA leading up to the Volvo Ocean Race. She has promised to be in touch regularly, after the Canary Island race, and also following the UK/Ireland race when all the boats should be out racing. We chatted for a decent amount of time off air as well – and it is just amazing to hear what she has been up to.

At 56:30, I talked about my adventure for the week, involving a very serious story about M&M’s post-racing at the CYCA Winter Series race today!

Here’s a good look at historic 18-footer Yendys on her way to a 2014 season championship win in the Sydney Flying Squadron with far too little mainsail on…Look at that boom! Congrats to our good friend, sailing cheerleader, camera cat owner and all-around lover of sailing Bob Killick on the victory, and here’s a report from the Squaddie. Bob Ross photo and full results here.

Race 27 (the final race) of the 2013-14 Season and Heat 7 of the Autumn Point score. The forecast for the day was anything but encouraging with the influence of an east coast low expected to produce extreme weather conditions. Consequently, skippers and crews rigged for the worst whilst hoping for the best as they prepared their skiffs amidst showers of rain. 8 skiffs under their smallest no.4 rigs and 1 GP18 set off for the start in Athol Bay. Whilst the breeze was quite fresh earlier in the day by the time the race got underway conditions had moderated significantly, with the prospect of more bursts of strong wind under the approaching banks of rain clouds on the southern horizon.

The race got underway from a handicap start on the #5 westerly course, with the breeze in the south to south-western sector. This is the shortest of the SFS courses and in comparison to the other courses is sailed in a confined section of the harbour. The limit markers all got away to a good start and soon settled in for a close race as they worked towards the Kirribilli mark. Alruth was first to round followed by Top Weight, Scot, Britannia and Tangalooma, for a tight reach down to Point Piper. Meanwhile there was a long gap before the back markers were on their way.

When the skiffs turned at Point Piper for the reach back to Kirribilli, it appeared that Top Weight was just ahead of Alruth with Britannia 3rd, then Scot and a break back to Tangalooma, then The Mistake, Aberdare and Yendys. At this stage we should point out that the rounding mark for the SFS course is the YA mark off Point Piper (a faded yellow and robust steel cylinder), and that the Double Bay S.C. was running a Laser class race with their start-line nearby (ie 200 metres to the west) that used a very bright yellow and skinny inflatable cylinder mark. In addition, it has been quite a long time since the SFS last ran a race on the #5 course.

When the skiffs turned at Kirribilli for the leg to Clark Island, Top Weight was just ahead of Alruth as they continued their 2-boat dual, followed by Britannia and Scot. The back markers had made up some time on the lead group but on such a short course the lead group would never be challenged with only the final leg to sail to the finish off Kirribilli.

Top Weight continued to lead down the final reach to cross the finish line just 4 secs ahead of Alruth, then a few minutes back to Britannia, another 3 mins to Scot, 2 mins to Tangalooma, then The Mistake, Aberdare and Yendys. However, Tangalooma was declared the race winner. It appears the first 4 skiffs did not round the YA mark off Point Piper, they used another mark nearby, sailed a shorter course and hence did not sail the course as prescribed in the Sailing Instructions. Aberdare took fastest time, completing the course in less than 1 hour.

It’s on again next season; we look forward to seeing you down at the Squaddie, and thanks for your ongoing support.

Sydneysider Russell Debney stumbled across this lyrical explanation of the enduring, historical rivalry between the man at the bow and the bloke holding the tiller, and we knew we had to share it with you. Meanwwhile, the massively dominant JJ winner Gotta Love It 7 could only manage a 7th in last weekend’s race, won by Rag & Famish with Cocko (Thurlow Fisher) a minute behind. Full race videos are here.

Looks like some breeze finally hitting the Harbour for the fourth race of what’s been a light air affair until now in the JJ Giltinan/18 Foot Skiff Worlds. Today most of the fleet has their small rig up; will it pay or will it wallow? Watch right here and a big shoutout to the great job the whole live streaming team is doing; it’s our privilege to be their Official Streaming Partner and we’re stoked there are another 4 days of great action ahead!

The spectacular racing of the 34th America’s Cup was, at times, frustrating for we sailors, with an overhyped know-nothing commentator and an over-aged AC winner pointing out irrelevant facts and useless trivia in vain hopes of getting the ‘mainstream’ to buy into the live feed. We got to see some of the most amazing sail racing ever captured on screen, but it was often better with the sound off.

This week’s 18 Footer Worlds (also known as the JJ Giltinan Championship presented by Sydney City Marine) might feature some of the same faces; AC34 Regatta Director and AC35 Challenger of Record CEO Iain Murray is helping out with the commentary at times, while numerous AC sailors are spread throughout the fleet.

But this broadcast ain’t for the landlubbers, it’s for sailors only, and the boys behind the microphone make no bones about it. So if you’re a racer and you want to know who’s on the inside of what shift, and who’s got a slightly better kite drop than the other guy and the inside position at the Zone, this live coverage is for you.

Saturday’s abandoned race day for the JJ Giltinan/18 Foot Skiff Worlds got another chance on Monday, and with Gotta Love It 7 manager and Australian America’s Cup CEO Iain Murray on the Camera Cat with Killo and Marko, a great race with tons of lead changes and drama even if the good breeze never showed up…replay above and full story and news over here and plenty more action throughout the week, live here on the SA front page.

An up and down 2 hours of racing in everything from 2 knots to 15 knots for the 18 Footers. Watch it all above or fast forward to this page for the day’s results. Tonight’s racing starts 2230 EST/1930 PST once again, and once again, it’s all live right here on SA. Get over to Pick The Podium to bet on the winners.

For the first time in the 75-year history of the JJ Giltinan, the first day of racing was abandoned after two races were started and sailed in a shifty and dying breeze – watch above for the call. Monday’s lay day will likely become the replacement for the abandoned race day, and we’ll have it all live starting at 1430 Sydney time;10:30 PM US EST. The coverage from yesterday is still damned good, especially for a team that’s doing its first fully live stream of 18 footer racing; go here to check out the videos from the day.

Bob Killick hits us with the race report and the first Pick The Podium winner from a funky practice race on Sydney Harbour. Register and get your entries in NOW: Just an hour and change left before the deadline! Racing starts at 11:30 PM on the US East Coast; perfect for you drunken knuckleheads just coming in from the bar. Or plug the computer into your club’s HDMI port and away you go! Can’t watch it live? Eyes on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates.

What can I say? yesterday’s Invitation Race was a practice race, and at this stage the Livestream gadget is 1 and and we are at 0. Something about the brain to web interface…in other words, the ‘software’ that is us. See, there you go: The geeks are winning again!

Apparently the live tracking didn’t live up either, so 2 for the Geeks and still nought for the Camera Cat boys and girls. To make matters worse, whilst heading into the Double Bay wharf the Camera Cat and Brett Van Munster’s 18 footer Kenwood Rabbitohs came together with a crunch. Brett was not happy and we certainly should’ve had eyes on him with so many on the cat, but it could have been a lot worse as it sounded like we had taken his bow off. Great evidence that Van Munster-built boats are tough [Bret builds the 18 footers and high performance carbon racing yachts at his shop North of Sydney -Ed].

Yesterday’s race video will be uploaded asap today, and is a must watch for you more serious players, because of the next two day’s weather forecasts. We noted especially the ability of C Tech NZ, Yamaha NZ, and Mojo Wines’ ability to push it to the big rigs – something that shouldn’t happen. Also, the performances of Pica UK and CST Composites USA who look to have the measure of the Sydney boats. So look at their work when the video goes live and factor that in with the forecasts for today and Sunday before you Pick Your Podium!

So Gotta Love It 7 was a no brainer for most, but Pica UK was not on anyone’s radar, and as a result we had a stand alone winner yesterday. Congratulations go to Jimmy Flemming, who was the only entry with two boats in the correct finishing order: 7 in first, and Fisher & Paykel in third, nice job Jimmy! He wins the Java sunnies from Barz Optics, takes the Bragging Rights for the race AND is our first winner to go into the draw on Sunday 9th for a crack at the best-ever set of major prizes for this JJ competition. Prize donors listed over here along with the form guide for you P-T-P aficionados, and a big THANKS to them.

Entries close off for today’s JJ Race 1 at 1200hrs local Sydney time so get cracking and have a shot…..here’s an obvious tip: Just enter Gotta Luv it 7 as your 1st place pick, and at least you will get one right. Good luck!

We promised it to you…and not unexpectedly, the practice race for the 18 Foot Worlds found all the bugs in the live streaming system and shut the live stream down. Our friends at 18 Footers TV promise us the first points-scoring race will go smoothly and we’ll have it right here.

Beth Morley at Sport Sailing Photography got this awesome shot of the ASBA Sportsboat Nationals sailed right out of the same Cruising Yacht Club that runs the Hobart race. The Thompson 8 Zippier seen here finished 2nd with the Shaw 650 The Stig’s Audi Driving Cousin crushing the fleet with 5 bullets in 5 races.

Frank Quealey from 18 Footers TV wrote up a chat comparing the 18s with the AC72s with someone who should know: Oracle Team USA bowman/Gotta Love It7 forward hand Sam Newton. Sam’s back on the red 7 boat in search of his fifth JJ Giltinan title in early March, he took a few minutes to discuss what he sees as the differences in the two boats.

“I had the pleasure of doing a lot of sailing and racing on the AC45’s and AC72’s over the past 2 years and between them I also experienced a lot of similarities to the 18ft Skiff.

When Oracle set the Protocol for the 34th Cup, their concept had a lot of similarities to what the 18ft skiffs have been doing for decades. It was all about creating a spectacle for sponsors and fans, something the skiffs have done well for a long time. The racing is short and intense and the venue is close to vantage points to ensure it encourages a big following.

On board the boats, the main difference between the Skiff and the cat is obvious. Two hulls and a wing sail compared to the single hull and a conventional mainsail. Another is the much larger team of eleven sailors on the AC72, which brings in a whole new dynamic. All the boats are fast, they are all wet and they all get the adrenaline going when the breeze is up, which is what I love. They all feel like your sailing on the edge in the higher winds, which keeps you on your feet and thinking ahead as you become fully aware of the consequences if it goes wrong.

One thing still remains; the 18ft skiff is by far the hardest to bear away at the top mark in 20+ knots. The 45’s give good action to the sailors and spectators at the top mark as we saw through the AC World Series, and the 72ft Cats are a lot easier by using the foils to create lift in the bow which we don’t have the option of in the skiff.

It‘s been great to be back out sailing on Sydney Harbour. From my travels, it’s still the best harbour in the world to sail and play and I’m enjoying being back with my long time sailing partner Seve (Jarvin). Now it’s all about getting the new “7” skiff up to speed to challenge in the upcoming JJ Giltinan Championship, which is looking like being the most competitive line up in recent years.”

The Gotta Love It 7 team of Seve, Sam and Scott Babbage will go into the 2014 JJ Giltinan Championship as favourites in March, but face a challenge of more than 30 skiffs from six countries in the regatta, which will celebrate 75 years of the world’s greatest 18 Footer championship. Stay in touch (and check out the new Livestream action) at the 18footers TV site.